Disgaea 4 can last forever if you want it to, for its addicting gameplay and funny story.
Main story is about a Vampire called Valvatorez who was once a Legendary Tyrant but now serves for Hades as a Prinny Instructor, fans of the series will be happy to see those exploding penguins called Prinnies again. Valvatorez is very disgusted by corruption in the Netherworld government and decides to reclaim control of the realm. Along the way he'll encounter and recruit a cast of eccentric and charming characters as he builds his army and makes his way to the evil President, who appears to be behind this mess in the Netherworld.
Gameplay: If you are a hard-core RPG fan like I am you'll have no problem going through most of the gameplay throughout each of the battles you'll face in the game. Anyone new to the series may take some use to in getting to know how it works and what you're supposed to do. This is a turn-based strategy game, similar to Final Fantasy Tactics but much more elaborate. You don't just have to worry about commanding your troops on the battlefield, there are also the Geo Panels that add benefits or detriments to your characters when they stand on them.
You can throw Geo-blocks to other blocks if they are the same colour which will get rid of the benefits/detriments and do some damage if enemies are standing on them or you can simple attack a Geo-block. You can also grab and throw your troops of you want them to get further to enemies or getting them to the other side of the field which you can't reach. There's your basic Mage, Healer, Warrior, Fighter, Prinny and so on, you can create or add more characters to your party team.
Magichange and Fusion is an option to use where you can have two characters at once which can transform into a large monster or using a monster as a weapon. But however each battle you can only choose up to 10 characters at once, if all 10 of your characters die its game over.
As you progress through it can become more addicting and very challenging to play through each battle grinding levels. Apart from that you can create your own petition the local government to pass laws that will make your life easier. Plus have more choices to pick and choose like having expensive or cheaper items in stores to buy or having ministers for your own government.
Graphics and Sound: A huge improvement for Disgaea 4 is the graphics which has totally changed from the last time we saw it from Disgaea 3. Everything has been given a HD treatment from the levels and environments to a glossy and colourful artwork; all characters that were in pixel have been fully deformed and look really cute to look at. But however if you are old school you can switch to the previous graphics from the last games at any time you like.
What I found annoying and I'm sure that you'll agree with me, that the camera can be really annoying pending on what the battlefield looks like and you can't see who is behind the blocks or landscape. You'll be switching and flipping back and forth using the L1 and R1 which can be annoying if you can't see anything. Another thing you may find annoying would that most characters you'll use who have spell abilities or special attacks you can't skip them and some of them can last ages even if it's a ridiculous spell or attack.
The voice acting is very well done and a few characters from the series do make a comeback. Seeing their re-actions as they are speaking with text-dialog at the bottom is another great touch to the game. If you don't like the English voice acting you can change it to Japanese voicing. Soundtrack has quite a few memorable themes new and old, plus a great opening theme before the main menu screen appears.
Overall: You can never tell how much time you'll spend playing the latest instalment, fans will really enjoy level-grinding and sitting through the hilarious story material that has been thrown in. Finishing the main campaign can take you at least 20-30 hours or more, but there are a ton of things to do during and after.
Going through the Item World is a great way to level up items and your characters; online features are also added where you can invade other players online and creating your own maps and uploading them. Trophy support is added to where some of them will take you a while to obtain them.
I would recommend Disgaea 4 to anyone who is new to the series, and it's one of those games that will never end on its strategy and spending countless hours and hours on your Playstation 3.